{"id":283787,"date":"2025-11-10T19:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/283787\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:20:09","slug":"barcelona-considering-marcus-rashford-alternative-chased-by-chelsea-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/283787\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona \u2018Considering\u2019 Marcus Rashford Alternative Chased By Chelsea, Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona are reportedly keeping tabs on Lyon\u2019s in-demand Malick Fofana as an alternative to making Marcus Rashford\u2019s loan move permanent next summer.<\/p>\n

The Belgium international was the darling of the transfer<\/a> gossip columns throughout the most recent window after enjoying a breakout campaign in France\u2019s top flight. The jet-heeled, jinking forward was widely touted to make a move to the Premier League<\/a>, with Chelsea and Liverpool both vying for his signature, only to choose to stay at Lyon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was interest from those two clubs, but ultimately it wasn\u2019t concrete enough,\u201d Fofana revealed to HBVL<\/a> earlier this year. \u201cI\u2019ve thought about a transfer, but now I think it\u2019s more important that I play a lot, and that has to happen at Lyon. Because I still have progress to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fofana\u2019s upward trajectory has been temporarily halted by an ankle sprain which could keep him out for several months, yet the 20-year-old still remains on the radar of Europe\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n

\"Malick<\/p>\n

Malick Fofana is one of Lyon\u2019s most exciting young forwards. \/ Alex Martin\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Barcelona<\/a> are the latest side to consider an approach for the left winger, per SPORT<\/a>. The reigning Spanish champions have already reportedly engaged in negotiations with Fofana\u2019s representatives and are thought to be confident of securing a cut-price deal for the forward given Lyon\u2019s well-documented financial difficulties; the French club were almost relegated at the end of last season due to economic irregularities.<\/p>\n

Money issues are never far from Barcelona themselves. The La Liga side are said to be keen on keeping Rashford but it remains to be seen whether they will have the necessary funds to make his loan from Manchester United permanent<\/a> by triggering the \u20ac30 million (\u00a326.1 million, $34.8 million) release clause in his contract.<\/p>\n

\"Marcus<\/p>\n

Marcus Rashford scored in Barcelona\u2019s win at the weekend. \/ Alex Caparros\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t focus on the media,\u201d Fofana said earlier this season. \u201cI just do what I love: dribbling and scoring.\u201d Unfortunately for him, there hasn\u2019t been much of either this season.<\/p>\n

Before he was struck down with that nasty ankle issue at the end of October, Fofana had mustered a grand total of two goals and was yet to provide an assist since the opening weekend of the season. However, his underlying numbers suggest that he was getting into promising goalscoring opportunities while also creating plenty of chances for his teammates only for a lack of clinical edge to expose itself.<\/p>\n

Rashford has not suffered the same wayward fate. Hansi Flick and Thomas Tuchel may still be demanding<\/a> more direct goal contributions, but the England international is averaging either a goal or an assist every 87 minutes for Barcelona thus far this season. No one in La Liga has created more goals than the United loanee (six).<\/p>\n

As Fofana is keen to point out, his game is defined by dribbling as much as scoring. The confident forward is frequently compared to Manchester City\u2019s J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku and reckons that he comes out on top in that head-to-head with his compatriot. \u201cMaybe J\u00e9r\u00e9my is faster in the first metres, but I\u2019ll be faster at the end of the sprint,\u201d he smiled. \u201cJust ask Doku; he\u2019ll probably admit that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite how Rashford\u2019s pace compares remains to be seen, but the Barcelona forward has been far more successful at dribbling past his opponents than Fofana of late. There appears to be a reason why the Lyon forward represents the cheaper option.<\/p>\n

Stat (2025\u201326 All Comps)<\/p>\n

Malick Fofana<\/p>\n

Marcus Rashford<\/p>\n

Games<\/p>\n

12<\/p>\n

16<\/p>\n

Goals<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Assists<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

xG per 90<\/p>\n

0.33<\/p>\n

0.31<\/p>\n

xA per 90<\/p>\n

0.27<\/p>\n

0.33<\/p>\n

Shots per 90<\/p>\n

2.4<\/p>\n

4.5<\/p>\n

Dribbles per 90<\/p>\n

3.1<\/p>\n

5.0<\/p>\n

Stats via FBref<\/a>. Correct as of Nov. 10, 2025.<\/p>\n

READ THE LATEST TRANSFER NEWS AND RUMORS FROM WORLD SOCCER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona are reportedly keeping tabs on Lyon\u2019s in-demand Malick Fofana as an alternative to making Marcus Rashford\u2019s loan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-283787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}